Hello my dear friends! I have been off the internet for nearly a month and a half and I am finally coming back. It has been marvelous! I quite literally walked away from almost everything in the technical world. I even quit watching television for a good deal of the time I was on my Solitude Sabbatical. My sadhana up to this point has been very deep and revealing for me. I cannot say that I am even close to where I want to be on a spiritual level, but I am at least a few steps closer:) I fight a great deal with myself. I was telling my husband just today that I am my own worst enemy. It is a fierce inner battle for me to reconcile my outer life with my inner most regions. Yes, at the age of 43 I am still trying to find myself. I can attest to all of you young people out there, the older you get the harder it is to create positive change in your life and rid yourself of old habits. They can plague you and just when you think you have finally won the war they rear their ugly little heads once again. This is reminiscent of Sri Krishna's words to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita:

When you let your mind heed the Siren call of

the senses, they will carry away your better judgment

as storms drive a boat off its safe-charted course to

certain doom.

Use all your power to set the senses free from

attachment and aversion alike, and live in the full

wisdom of the Self.

It is a curious thing to find one's self continuing on in some bad habit and finding no will to resist. I have come to the conclusion that it is virtually impossible to resist the senses without the help of some higher power, and I don't mean up there somewhere in the sky. I refer to that 'inner power' of the higher Self. So how to draw it out and draw upon it? For me it is quite literally turning heart and soul in devotion to my ishta devata...she being the Divine Mother of the Universe...Maa.

It is an interesting thing to see mysticism working in one's life. I use the word mysticism because, well to be frank, there just is no other way to explain the many little events that happen in a single day, week, or month that are unexplainable miracles. Each day I implore the Mother to manifest in my daily life. That I may see her work evident in me and all around me, and every time I witness some little synchronicity I just smile and say to myself, 'Maa is teaching me again'. It is only through the Divine Feminine that we are able to achieve anything. We cannot succeed in life without the Goddess's grand play of shakti. Even if we do not acknowledge it, it still exists.

I know that there are many types of sadhana for many different personalities, for me japa mantra is the most powerful. I sometimes think I could chant all day:) There are times when I have been chanting for a while and I close my eyes and I can feel the sacred sanskrit words penetrating my very being....vibrating through me. At those times I feel so alive and at one with everything around me. I have been working with a mantra over the last two weeks that is quite powerful. It is called the Maha Ganapathi Step Mantra. I chose this mantra because I just adore Lord Ganesha and know he is the great remover of obstacles...and with the obstacles I am trying to overcome I knew I needed a real doozy of a mantra...hehehe.

Om Swaha

Om Shreem Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Glaum Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Glaum Gam Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Glaum Gam Ganapatayei Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Glaum Gam Ganapatayei Vara Varada Swaha

Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Glaum Gam Ganapatayei Vara Varada

Sarva Janam Me Vasham Swaha

(Each line is repeated from 3 to 108 repetitions counted out on the mala beads...when repeating each line 108 times it takes roughly 90 minutes)

Japa mantra is an incredible mystical form of worship that can bring about amazing results in one's life. I can attest to its great power. It is always wise to seek counsel when engaging in sanskrit mantra. There are many mantras that are quite popular and are considered tried and true such as the Gayatri Mantra, which is my favorite of all mantras. I chant it daily during devotions and through out the day. You can find many great books about mantra. Two of my favorite authors, who happen to be adepts in the field of mantra are Swami Vamadeva Shastri (Dr. David Frawley) and Namadeva (Thomas Ashley-Farrand). They are both very respected voices throughout the mystic community. It is my dream to attend a retreat sponsered by Vamadeva Shastri and his wife Shambhavi Lorain Chopra, who happens to be a mystic yogini herself.

I will continue my mantra practice for at least 40 days if not more and feel quite confident that it will reap great results in my life. I am truly grateful to my beloved Maa for guiding me on my life's journey. I would implore anyone to find your own personal mantra and repeat it daily, for strength to overcome and as a reminder that you are a Divine Being having a human experience, that you are not your body or your mind. Do not let your outer self convince you that it is what you truly are, you are your 'inner Self, the Soul and it is the soul's purpose to find its way back to the Source.

Nirvani, if you haven't discovered her already I'd like to introduce you to Uma Mohan and particularly to her version of this mantra. Her voice sang me through some of the most challenging parts of India.

Kali Maa

About Me

A Domestic Goddess, devoted wife, loving mother, daughter, and friend to all...A lover of Sanātana Dharma and seeker of all things spiritually benevolent...also I am an aspiring poet so please check out my poetry blog The Cosmic Poet. Some of my other passions are photography, astrology and tarot.

Sri Anandamayi Ma

This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor...Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.